Do any of you go to church?

[jjgarcia3]

am faithful but only go to mass once ortwice a month

[goliath.jr]

I don't believe in god. I wish I did though....

[Tinfish]

I go each week. It is much more important to me now that i have a new son.

[pudgy]

i find it hard to have faith in anything, im more of a prove it to me so i can believe it person.



the bb quote is from 02BESOHUGE a good bro

[Keiser]

I go and have strong faith. I think some preachers are crooked and are only out for money, but who care, they will be dealt with. People who don't believe in god let their head get in the way of their heart/faith.

I've seen too many miracles & wonderful things happen to truly religious people, there are a lot of perpentrators, who make you think they are religious, but really aren't.

Don't even think about it, or try to explain it, just have faith.

The worst attitude to have is this one: "if there was a god, then why does all this bad stuff happen in the world and why does all this bad stuff happen to me."

[morebeefplease]

in my experience ppl who either try to be truely religious or are truely religious are not logical and completely irrational.

i believe in a god, but i question the bible. i have no problem with ppl believe as long as they don't push it off on me.

[goliath.jr]

Originally posted by morebeefplease
in my experience ppl who either try to be truely religious or are truely religious are not logical and completely irrational.

Well put. I agree...

I think that people are sometimes just so blinded by their faith in god that all logic seems to flee.

[Keiser]

There is no logic in faith, that is the problem. That is why all intelligent/scientific people believe in evolution and scientology. Because its logical to them.

[NecroPhreak]

i go to the graveyard BEHIND the church...does that count?

[Keiser]

Originally posted by NecroPhreak
i go to the graveyard BEHIND the church...does that count?

What do you do there?

[Billy_Bathgate]

Ive always waited for the right thread to express my opinions on this...

Let me first throw this out. From 3yrs old till 14yrs old I went to and advanced academical school. It also happened to be a northern babtist school. Ive read the Bible page to page approximately 5 times and gone through every chapter discussing and interpretting ever bit. Im rusty now, but I used to be able to quote alot of things from my head.

Anyways, after going to a public highschool and being in college Ive taken a couple classes and done some leasure reading about religion and mythology.

From all of these things, this is my opinion.


1) It really is unknown, there is no real answer of whether super-natural being (s) exist or not. No PROVEN concrete science or fact.

2) Religion (in which I place mythology in as well) is based on three major things in which some may have only one, others all three. They are money, control, and self-confience.

What I mean. Many religions are in fact based off of money. People paying tithes, donations, taxes, etc all schemed off the point of making revune..which is usually for the govt or sort. Catholosim is the main one that comes to mind. Many Im sure will argue, but thats what it was based on when it was fist founded overseas. Additional income for the gov't as they didnt have the State vs Church seperation that we do (hence the Pilgrims). Also, Purgatory...something to the extent that if your family donates money to the church, it shall lessen the suffering upon your soul.

By using religion, especially back in the older times (BC era), it was an excellent way of control. Technology and education for the MAJORITY is nothing like it is today. If you took a group of uneducated men, and stood before them and preached to them in a most convincing way that there is in fact a god (whether is Zeus, GOD, Budda, Rah, Thor, etc) and that this god would judge and punish you for wrong doings, many men would listen and obey. Egyption religion is a good example. Take the Sun god Rah, people worshiped him and followed strict guidlines out of the fear that one day he would be unhappy and not let the sun rise no more causing great famine.

If you were instilled to believe that you would live the rest of your life burning in a place called hell or hades if you did certain things, would you be reluctant to do them? In many cases yes!

Be good = live in this awesome happy place, Be bad = miserable torture. It reminds me of Santa Clause to tell ya the truth.


Self-confience, I think its a good thing for. Many people need something to boost them. Religion has changed many peoples lives for the better because of this, reguardless if its an un-true casue or not.


From that, I look at religion like a language. There are many of them that are nothing more than a personal prefference and geographic introduction. Some arent so good, and some are much more world-wide. Its hard IMO to pinpoint which one is the absolute correct one, and which ones arent. I dont agree with the religions that are manipulative and "brainwashing" but that is up to each individual person to decide.

My self, I guess I never was a true Christian. I also am a prove it kinda person. Blind faith is something that I just dont have. When asked if I believe in God or a god, my answer is usually no not really, but my real answer is that I in fact do not know for certain.

IF there is in fact a god(s) I do believe that he/she/it would follow modern religion. I do not think we were "put" on this earth to sit around and goto church, follow a strict guidline of rules (which some prohibit certain things that many agree are harmless and enjoyable, such as music, etc). I think that we should enjoy the time that we have and be as productive as we can to better the whole.


I am very spiritual though. I know thats kinda on the flip-side of this but I am. If there was a religion closest to what I really believe, it would probally be that of the American Indians. Not one specific, as my knowledge is limited, but in general.

I really do like religion though. I find it interesting to read and study.

[LOCO]

Originally posted by goliath.jr
I don't believe in god. I wish I did though....

i was just gonna write that myself...

[goliath.jr]

People need religion to help cope with death. Budhists believe that death is just a part of life, and nothing more than a phase of ones being. (Buddha was not a god, nor is he acknowledged as such, BTW.) People feel the need to explain the unexplainable, and something to help guide them through the unknown. For example, creation. Christians believe that god created all things. Scientists believe in the big bang. I don't believe in either. I think they are both fairly un-imaginative.

People inherintly view things in terms of a begining and an end. It's our life cycle, we are born, then we die. So naturally, we think of things on the same plane of thought. But why? The universe could have allways just 'been'. Maybe it was not created at all - not by anything. It's allways just been here...

[BUSTINOUT]

Originally posted by Billy_Bathgate

Be good = live in this awesome happy place, Be bad = miserable torture. It reminds me of Santa Clause to tell ya the truth.


I do not think we were "put" on this earth to sit around and goto church, follow a strict guidline of rules (which some prohibit certain things that many agree are harmless and enjoyable, such as music, etc). I think that we should enjoy the time that we have and be as productive as we can to better the whole.

Good post, but as you said, your Bible quoting is a little rust, because nowhere in it does it mention either of these things. But your post was well thought and well written.

It is refreshing to see a post on this topic without a lot of bashing going on. Unfortunately this topic is one of the most devisive ones there is. Whether it is on the boards, or among personal friends. There were man great posts made here. Many of which I agree with, many of which I do not. It's nice to be able to agree to disagree. Because as soon as someone defends their beliefs, or lack there of, they are considered a fanatical. A shame, but true. Christians and other kinds of believers will get slammed for defending their faith, and nonbelievers get slammed for their lack of faith, and before you know it, nobody is practicing their common belief of "live and let live". So in the end, we all end up hypocrites.

I know what I believe and I choose to believe it based on faith. Those that have to see things before they believe it have that right, but may be in for a long wait...on many levels. ex. How do you know that your marriage will last when you get married? You don't. You have faith that it will. How do you know that you will have a healthy child when your wife becomes pregnant? You don't. How do you know when your kids get older they won't end up worthless crackheads? You don't. You have faith that they will use the information you give them wisely. So unless you are a close personal friend of Dion Warwick or the Psychic Friends Network, you will never be shown these things before hand. You go on faith.

But if I did have one major gripe, it would be when things are going great, we take credit, but when things go to crap, we blame God. Talk about hypocracy.

[Billy_Bathgate]

Thats intesting Burstinout, I didnt even think about your marrige and pregnancy analogies. To me though, what makes it so hard with a god, is that you cant even see it, take a sonogram, get to know on a personal basis, etc...you can only really go by your own imagination and what other people tell you, and of course whatever literature you do in fact believe to be true. To add to that, which is actually also presented in the movie Dogma, is that if there is a god, I dont think that he wants us to sit around and worship him and put away hours and hours of our time constantly seeking approval, but instead to enjoy life and be fruitful. That is my main reason for never wanting to goto church unless I was forced, a errogant god would condradict a perfect god and therefor disprove his existance. Im sure that could be argued to any extreme though, just my own opinion.

I wasnt actually quoting anything, it was just a general summarization of all religions. In most, the "heaven" or the good life, is pleasant. Christianity things such as streets paved with gold, happiness, no illness disease etc. And "hell" or the bad life, fire and damnation.

The other part, is solely my interpretation, didnt find that anywhere directly. Most of that is also based on a northern babtist belief. The acadamy I went to had very very strict rules that IMO were beyond what I would believe a god would want. Instances as not listening to any type of music that had any percussion instuments, as they typically carried a "beat" which would lead to a rythmic style of dance. Another big one, which is actually part of the reason I left is they dont believe in interracial dating or the wearing of blue jeans. All because these are things that in some parts of the world (wether right or wrong) are still contriversiol and assimilated with sin (like I said, I just dont agree).

Like I said, I have read the Bible numerous times in great detail. But to me, it carries the same weight to me as some of the writings of Homer or other mythological and religious scriptures.